Ashford v. Google, Inc

• Court: District Court, S.D. California
• Decided: February 19, 2025
• Docket: 3:25-cv-00327
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 BURK ASHFORD Case No.: 25-cv-0327-BJC-AHG 12 Plaintiff, ORDER DENYING MOTION TO 13 v. PROCEED IN FORMA PAUPERIS,

14 GOOGLE INC., et al, [ECF No. 3] 15 Defendants. 16 17 18 On February 12, 2025, Plaintiff Burk Ashford, filed a Petition for Preliminary 19 Injunction alleging Defendants Google and Yahoo have locked him out of his personal 20 email accounts, and he seeks “unfettered access to his email accounts from wherever he 21 may be.” [ECF No. 1.] Plaintiff did not prepay the filing fees required by 28 U.S.C. § 22 1914(a) at the time of filing; instead, he filed a motion to proceed in forma pauperis 23 (“IFP”) pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). For the reasons stated herein, his motion is 24 DENIED. 25 Generally, all parties instituting a civil action in this court must pay a filing fee. See 26 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a); CivLR 4.5(a). However, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a), the court 27 may authorize the commencement, prosecution, or defense of any suit without payment 28 of fees if the plaintiff submits an affidavit, including a statement of all his or her assets, 1 || showing that he or she is unable to pay filing fees or costs. “An affidavit in support of an 2 || IFP application is sufficient where it alleges that the affiant cannot pay the court costs and 3 || still afford the necessities of life.” Escobedo v. Applebees, 787 F.3d 1226, 1234 (9th Cir. 4 ||2015). “[A] plaintiff seeking IFP status must allege poverty with some particularity, 5 || definiteness and certainty.” /d. (internal quotation marks omitted). The granting or denial 6 leave to proceed IFP in civil cases is within the sound discretion of the district court. 7 || Venerable v. Meyers, 500 F.2d 1215, 1216 (9th Cir. 1974) (citations omitted). 8 In his application, Plaintiff states that he has $1,310 in monthly income from Social 9 || Security, he has $426.68 in a bank account, and his monthly expenses are $885. Based on 10 || Plaintiff's income, expenses, and bank account, it appears that he has funds to pay the 11 || filing fee and still “afford the necessities of life.” Escobedo, 787 F.3d at 1234. 12 For the foregoing reasons, the Court DENIES WITHOUT PREJUDICE 13 || Plaintiff’s IFP Motion [ECF No. 3.] Plaintiff shall have until March 18, 2025, to pay the 14 || entire filing fee or file a renewed application to proceed IFP. Failure to pay the filing fee 15 |! or file a renewed application to proceed IFP will result in this case being closed without 16 || further order from the Court. 17 IT IS SO ORDERED. 18 19 Dated: February 19, 2025 20 1 6 pap C24, a fa 22 23 Honorable Benjamin J. Cheeks United States District Judge 24 25 26 27 28